Should I buy the 3-years extended service from HP?

I have had prior experience with HP technical support, and it was horrific. However, after my previous HP computer died right after 3.5 years, I wonder if I should spend $270 on the extended warranty. I will be leaving for college shortly in September. I know it takes a round trip of 2 weeks for HP to fix it and ship it back. I wonder how I would be able to survive in college without my notebook for 2 weeks period. For my previous notebook, I changed the DVD drive within the first 2 months, then the battery or the charging system stopped working after about 11 months, which HP refused to fix for me without me buying an extended service, then at about 2.5 years, the plastic at the hinge cracked, so the screen collapsed entirely, and now the whole notebook just BSOD. So, should I buy 3 years extended service?

 

If you can afford it, I would. It's always a good idea to get an extended warranty, especially for expensive equipment.

 

Colleges have these places called computer labs. You can be a CS or CE major and easily go through all 4 years without a computer.

 

Yeah, but then you don't get the convenience or the customization. For example, not all computer labs will have Linux computers. I don't like Windows or OS X, so I would get stuck using a crappy OS.

 

Depends on how much you are planning to spend on you notebook.
Its is like less than ~$850, I wouldn't get it.
I bought a $1000 and $1200 laptop, never bought extended service plans.
Also depends if move it around a lot, if you are hard on your notebook etc.

 

if it includes accidental damage and comp is over $700--$800 then yes .

 

remember if you get the accidental you can always drop it at the end and make sure it is unrepairable so they have to give you a replacement

 

and hope they no longer make that model , and give you an upgraded comp .

 

I always buy onsite service with laptops. That way when the thing pukes they have to come to you, not you send it off, wait wait, comes back screwed up, do it again...


The bucks for the on-site warranty are worth it. Or buy machine that comes with a 3/3/3 warranty out of the box (HP8510w)

 

I'd buy it. I'm goint to buy mine before it's a year old. I have another laptop that my g.f. uses, that one is currently getting repaired. She dropped it and the geek squad guy said that the hard drive, motherboard and screen are done. This is the second time we take it in for repairs. The first incident happened when I dropped it on the ac plug and the pin stayed inside and broke some components inside. I paid less than $100 for a three year warranty because I was an employee at the time. You don't need any experience in pc repair to know that just the first incident was worth more than the price of warranty w/ or w/o employee discount. If you can afford it, buy it.